Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Kuehnlein Tape

St. George Missouri Police Sergeant James Kuehnlein says, "Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You want me to show you? You want me to show you? You want me to lock you up to show you I'm right and you're wrong?...........I want to show you the law. I want to show you the law. I'm gonna show you my law is right and your's is wrong."

Whew, that officer was obviously being a jerk. But I have concerns about a young guy who hooks cameras up to his car and SEEMS to be looking for a confrontation.

Now, the officer had no business going off or making absurd statements like he did. That was way off base. But at some points rather than extricating himself from the situation, the young driver makes comments to keep the dialogue going. There's nothing wrong with this, but it's very odd behavior.

I am in no way advocating police being jerks, but adopting an attitude with a police officer from the get go is a recipe for a mess. Any one of us would be forthright, and succinct with the police were we to be pulled over. Maybe I'm being too simplistic.

In any event, hopefully it will serve as a wakeup to other police to avoid those kinds of outbursts and signs of 'machismo'.

At one point the "legal expert" cop says: "I don't need a reason to pull you over!! Oh contre mon frere! You DO need a reason. As a matter of fact you need a pretty friggin' good reason to stop me. That reason needs to be much more compelling to a jury of my peers than your mere curiosity about who I am and what I'm up to. It's called REASONABLE SUSPICION and it falls just below PROBABLE CAUSE on the American legal scale of proof. And you had better be able to articulate this reasonable suspicion in a court of law if you expect any arrest you make to stand up.

To your anonymous commentor: A man doesn't rise to the rank of Sergeant on a police force without serving a significant amount of time. This "questionable behavior" from the Sgt very likely wasn't a isolated incident either. He's an abuser of the statutory power bestowed upon him. Why should you have a problem with this kid, or anyone else for that matter installing his own camera or recording device to protect himself from someone who would use their official capacity to abuse his Constitutional rights as a free citizen of this country? He obviously had a reason to believe that this type of thing might occur. Now why do you think that is??

I guarantee you, this cop has a reputation for behaving just as he did on this tape. I would also be willing to bet that, as a supervisor, he has been instrumental in the propagation if not the cultivation of this same attitude among the junior members of his force. It's probable that this type of behavior is more common than the brass would care to admit. As a matter of fact, I'd be interested to know how many complaints of this type of behavior from it's officers, this particular department has "processed"...and by "processed" I mean "swept under the rug"...or more officially, "investigated and deemed without merit."

I believe most Law Enforcement Officers are of sound moral character. But it is assholes like this, that make the work of honest Police Officers harder by instilling a level of distrust among its citizenry.

"Libertyplease" was dead on....we are not to be in servitude to our own public servants. The statutory power to relieve another of his liberty is one that should be wielded with respect and deep sense of responsibility and service. And it is the right...nay the DUTY of ordinary citizens to be watchful of anyone who holds such power.

By the way, if you watch the tape closely, you can clearly see that the driver DID, in fact use his turn signals, despite the fact that the Police Officer tried to fabricate the charge of failure to properly use his turn indicator as a cause for reasonable suspicion to stop.

As a USArmy Recruiter, I was going home one evening; after recruiting at a local College. I was in uniform and No I hadn't been drinking. this Cop decided I was breaking every law in the city. Fortunately, drivers passing us stopped and called 911. Three of his LT's showed up and apoligized, but the newspapers and reporters were already there.

So anonymous commentor 2 thinks this is the kids fault for having a camera in his car without good cause? Turns out he did have good cause, that's what concealed carry is about too, it's just in case. Nobody should be looking to excuse this pathetic excuse for a cop. If I had got a ticket from him in the past I'd be heading for court right now, all his previous convictions are now suspect.

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Xavier is a Registered Nurse who specialized in complex wound care. He has practiced for over fourteen years in his community. He often provided nursing service in areas where law enforcement refused to enter without back-up. Xavier now works in surgery.
Xavier has been an avid shooter for over 30 years. He strongly supports the 2nd Amendment, opposes gun control of any sort, and carries a weapon 24 hours a day.
Xavier is known on various internet gun forums as XavierBreath. He is married with three children, and is moderated by an apathetic one eyed cat, a goofy Golden Retriever, and a stalwart German Shepherd Dog. One day, he hopes to be deserving of them all.

Domari Nolo

Xavier can still be emailed at
treatmewithbenignneglect@gmail.com
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He might delete it on sight.
He might publish it and comment on it.

The Five Rules of Concealed Carry
1. Your concealed handgun is for protection of life only.
2. Know exactly when you can use your gun.
3. If you can run away -- RUN!
4. Display your gun, be prepared to go to jail.
5. Don't let your emotions get the best of you.